IRIN Reports On Challenges To Fighting Child Malnutrition In Nepal

Jul 21, 2011

IRIN examines the “silent epidemic” of child malnutrition in Nepal, where nearly half of all children under five have stunted growth and 13 percent of children over six months and under five years old have moderate or severe acute malnutrition underÂ a measurement known as global acute malnutrition (GAM).

The article describes the Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) program launched in January 2010 by UNICEF and the Nepal government, which has established 26 health care outposts. However, challenges remain in convincing mothers that their children are malnourished and in the difficulties mothers and children face in traveling, often from very remote regions, to the clinics for treatment, according to IRIN (7/21).